Booklist: Alternate History

Blackwood, Gary L. The Year of the Hangman (Dutton, 2002)
In 1777, having been kidnapped and taken forcibly from England to the American colonies, fifteen-year-old Creighton becomes part of developments in the political unrest there that may spell defeat for the patriots and change the course of history. [What if the British won the Revolutionary War?].

Caine, Rachel. Ink and Bone (NAL, 2015)
Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly, but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden … When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe that knowledge is more valuable than any human life–and soon both heretics and books will burn. [What if the Library of Alexandria survived?]

Davidson, Jenny. The Explosionist (HarperTeen, 2008)
In Scotland in the 1930s, fifteen-year-old Sophie, her friend Mikael, and her great-aunt Tabitha are caught up in a murder mystery involving terrorists and suicide-bombers whose plans have world-shaping consequences. [What if Napoleon won at Waterloo?]

Grant, Michael. Front Lines (HarperCollins, 2016)
1942, World War II. The most terrible war in human history. Millions are dead; millions more are still to die. The Nazis rampage across Europe and eye far-off America. The green, untested American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled–the armed forces of Nazi Germany. But something has changed. A court decision makes females subject to the draft and eligible for service. So in this World War II, women and girls fight, too. As the fate of the world hangs in the balance, three girls sign up to fight. [What if women were drafted to fight in World War II?]

Graudin, Ryan. Wolf by Wolf (Little, Brown, 2015)
The first book in a duology about an alternate version of 1956 where the Axis powers won WWII, and hold an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents to commemorate their victory. [What if we lost World War II?]

Richmond, Caroline Tung. The Only Thing to Fear (Scholastic, 2014)
It has been nearly seventy years since Hitler’s armies won the war, and sixteen-year-old Zara St. James lives in the Shenandoah hills, part of the Eastern American Territories, under the rule of the Nazis–but a resistance movement is growing, and Zara, who dreams of freedom, may be the key to its success. [What if Hitler won World War II?]

Strasser, Todd. Fallout (Candlewick, 2013)
When an unthinkable nuclear attack occurs in an alternate-reality 1962, Scott is forced into his father’s bomb shelter with his family and neighbors, where they rapidly consume limited supplies and fear the worst about the fate of the world outside. [What if the Cuban Missile Crisis ended with a nuclear attack?]

*Asterisked books are available at the Middletown Library Service Center, Middletown, CT